As food banks across Sussex see a rise in demand, parents in need of a helping hand have told More Radio about the struggle to feed their families. Michelle from Sompting is a disabled mum of four, who has been relying on her local food bank for around a year and a half. She told us her benefits don't cover the cost of food: "This has been a great help, obviously we're on benefits and I'm disabled - I've been very ill - so it's definitely a big help and we wouldn't be able to manage without this. "It's getting harder and harder, there's less and less help. "Because we own our own home there is even less help so it's really becoming a struggle." [caption id="attachment_13279280" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Michelle and her daughter making pizza, with help from food bank volunteers and MP Tim Loughton.[/caption] Her feelings are echoed by husband, Martin Jones: "We'd really struggle without it. "It's hard to explain, we've had some really hard times with my wife being ill and ending up not working for a long time and having to rely on the food bank to feed these kids." In the last four years, demand at Lancing and Sompting Food Bank has increased five-fold. The organisation's coordinator Peter Johnston said: "We thought it would all settle down - it hasn't. "Each month we're giving over 120 bags of food out. "Many people have been coming to us for a long time, on and off, to make up for the food that they just cannot make up from the benefits or income that they have. "It's always very complicated but the basic problem is that people just haven't got enough to feed their children - particularly in the holiday times with so many of the children having free school meals or support in other ways, which isn't there in the holiday times. "It's a lot of extra resources that they don't have." Mum of three, Donna Satur, has been going to 'Space at the Table' days, where children are given free lunches during the summer break. She said school holidays often add extra strain: "I've got three, and trying to feed them constantly is really, really hard. Whereas they come here, they get something different and meet their friends and other people, and it really, really helps. "During the six weeks holidays I know all the mum's around are saying the same - what shall we give them, where shall we go, what shall we do?" With more and more people having to rely on food banks across the county and donations being needed more than ever, More Radio has launched the Ten Thousands Tin appeal. Find more information on how you can help here.
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